New Zealand Listener Issue 4 2019

There’s a new reason to be nostalgic about the most beloved children’s books. The Harry Potter series, Alice in Wonderland, the Narnia fantasies, The Hunger Games, the Famous Five stories – none would be written now because no contemporary author could conceive of unsupervised children. As for Winnie-the-Pooh, what parent today would let Christopher Robin, barely out of nappies, roam a 100-acre wood, let alone with an obese tree-climbing bear, a depressed donkey and an ADHD tiger? “Rabbit” might have been of sound character, but what about “all his friends and relations”? Surely they could all have been vetted in advance of a supervised play date. Still, today’s parents are belatedly realising free-range kids may be much safer than those indoors hanging out with online friends. We now know that too much…

The perceptive cover story on the “snowflake” generation and the suppression of free speech to avoid giving offence is timely (“Culture of complaint”, January 12). If free speech has any meaning at all, it is permitting the expression of viewpoints that you disagree with, even strongly disagree with. No one has the right not to be offended. The troubling phenomenon of labelling what you disagree with as “hate speech” has arrived in New Zealand with the de-platforming of Canadian speakers Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern by Auckland Mayor Phil Goff and the banning of Don Brash from speaking at Massey University by vice-chancellor Jan Thomas. In both instances, the threat of heckler disruption was the lame excuse given to shut down free speech. David Gibbs(Beach Haven, Auckland) Yet another diatribe on the anxiety…

“The Bachelor is the show that answers the question: how much wine do you have to drink until the guy making out with 20 different women seems like he’d make a good husband?– US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel“The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage.– US comedian Mark Russell“They say such nice things about people at their funerals that it makes me sad to realise that I’m going to miss mine by just a few days.”– US author Garrison Keillor“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.”– comic strip creator Scott Adams“Martin Scorsese’s movie The Wolf of Wall Street broke a record by using the f-word 506 times. It beat the previous…

I am a hairdresser and beauty therapist by trade. I used to do weddings – the whole package for weddings – hair, makeup, spray tans, nails, leading up to having children …NZ Herald, 24/12/18 For every 100 vehicles imported from Japan we find over 200 problems or warnings. Check your import is not one of these horror stories!carjam.co.nz, 24/12/18 My poor mother, who enjoyed a gin and tonic before dinner, ended up hosting the AA Christmas parties at our place, which she found a bit tedious; very dry affairs.Listener, 29/9/18 The two other bedrooms are good sizes too, with a bedroom that includes a bath, an office, a guest toilet and separate laundry.NZ Herald, 6/10/18 Kate Sheppard’s ancestors … gather to swap family history in Lower Hutt’s Vogel House.Dominion Post, 20/9/18…

1. The mouflon is thought to be the wild ancestor of which domestic animal? ❑ Goat❑ Chicken❑ Sheep❑ Pig 2. True or false? A person might retain full cognitive abilities with half their brain removed. ❑ True❑ False 3. Which of these words describes an event of great significance in history? ❑ Historic❑ Historical 4. The disease pellagra is caused by a lack of what? ❑ Vitamin C❑ Selenium❑ Vitamin B3 (niacin)❑ Iodine 5. Which of these hits entered the Kiwi singles chart in three different decades? ❑ Slice of Heaven❑ How Bizarre❑ Don’t Dream It’s Over❑ Poi E 6. What is most notable about the 1939 novel Gadsby, by Ernest Vincent Wright? ❑ Longest ever sentence❑ Whole novel palindrome❑ No letter E❑ 50-word vocabulary 7. According to the uncanny valley hypothesis, feelings of revulsion can be produced by what? ❑ Corrupt politicians❑…

Prolonged cuts as a result of austerity policies have left a much-reduced police force. Last year, British newspapers ran a story that shocked Londoners. The city, said the headlines, had a higher murder rate than New York. It was like reading that London was sunnier than Sydney or cheaper than Bangkok. Surely it wasn’t possible. On closer inspection, it turned out that over the course of the year, London was slightly safer, murderwise. But only slightly. In 1980, when I first went to New York as a backpacking 18-year-old, I was about 10 times more likely to be killed there than back home. The streets positively bristled with the promise of violence. I remember accidentally knocking into someone on the subway and almost booking myself a ticket to the morgue. What’s happened in…